Recyclable plastics materials

ABSTRACT

A recyclable plastics material includes a polystyrene compatible label ( 10 ) which is attachable to an object, such as a hanger ( 1 ) which is also manufactured from a polystyrene or a polystyrene compatible material. The main rail hook ( 20 ) is also manufactured from a recyclable plastics material.

This invention concerns improvements in and relates to recyclable plastics materials, in particular to recyclable hangers made from plastics materials.

A wide variety of hanger shapes and sizes are currently available, the hangers being made from a variety of materials, with however the majority of hangers being formed from polystyrene (PS). Garment hangers are used in the clothing trade as a method of transporting garments from a factory to a retail outlet and as a method of displaying the garments within the retail outlets. Very often hangers are also used to display various features of the garment, such as size and/or cost to the prospective consumer. In addition, hangers can also be used to display the numeric code or bar code of the garment. This enables a retailer to quickly access the numeric code or bar code rather than spending time locating the garment label attached to the inside of the garment when dealing with queries in respect of said garment. Generally this information is displayed on a label which is then attached to the hanger, by adhesive means.

Once a hanger has been used, it is either;

-   -   (i) Dumped into a landfill site,     -   (ii) Cleaned and reused (eventually leading to (i)), or     -   (iii) Recycled into its raw material.

Increasingly, dumping waste materials into landfill sites is becoming more difficult, and there is increasing pressure not to send waste to these sites. Cleaning hangers for reuse is a labour intensive operation and in most cases is uneconomical. When cleaning the hangers for reuse, each hanger must be sorted into the various types and the adhesive labels removed. The hangers are then cleaned and repackaged into cartons for shipment back to the factory and/or the retail outlets.

Recycling hangers into its raw material is also a labour intensive operation. The component parts of the hanger such as a metal hook (if present) must be removed. If the metal hook is not removed, the metal will damage the recycling equipment and contaminate the raw material. Likewise the adhesive label must also be removed. Adhesive labels are usually composed of paper or materials that are not compatible with PS. If the label is not removed prior to recycling, the label will contaminate the raw material. Removing labels is a time consuming operation, often an unsuccessful operation as many labels often leave a residue on the hanger, which renders the hanger unacceptable for recycling. Furthermore once a label has been removed it is necessary to then dispose of the label.

It is an object of the present invention to seek to alleviate the aforementioned problems.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a recyclable plastics materials including a polystyrene compatible label, where the polystyrene compatible label is attachable to an object using a polystyrene compatible adhesive.

Advantageously, the object to which the label is attached is formed from polystyrene or a polystyrene compatible material.

Advantageously, the object is in the form of a hanger, where the hanger can be formed in the various shapes and sizes required for display and transportation of different sized and/or types of garments. It is preferable for the hook of the hanger to be formed from polystyrene or a polystyrene compatible material. Ideally the hook will be either a fixed attachment or a pivoting attachment. The hook may be made from polystyrene or metal. However, if the hook used is a metal hook, the hanger will only need to undergo a hook removal process prior to recycling.

Preferably the label is formed from polystyrene. Ideally the label is attached to the hanger using either a high tack hot melt rubber adhesive or a high tack modified acrylic adhesive. Advantageously print can be applied to the label by letterpress, flexographic or screen processes. Any other suitable method of applying print to the label known to a person skilled in the art may also be used. Optionally, once the print has been applied to the label, a fluorescent varnish can be applied, enabling a specific radiant colour luminance when the printed matter is exposed to Ultra Violet (UV) light.

Conveniently, the label can also be attached to polystyrene products. Ideally, where the polystyrene films are used as packaging in the food industry, the label can be supplied either for thermal transfer or direct thermal application. This allows variable information to be applied at the point of manufacture or sale. An example of information applied is barcode information, best before data and so forth.

Advantageously, the label does not have to be removed from the object formed from polystyrene or a polystyrene compatible material, for example the hanger or the polystyrene product prior to the object or film being recycled.

The invention will now be described more particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings in which are shown a number of embodiments in accordance with the invention:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a hanger according to the invention; and

FIGS. 2 to 16 are front views of different embodiments of hangers according to the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a first embodiment of a hanger 1, with component parts comprising a main rail hook 20, arms 30 and minor garment hooks 40. The hanger 1 and the component parts of hanger 1 are formed from either general purpose PS, high impact PS or a blend of general purpose PS and high impact PS. The PS compatible label is positioned at area 10.

In this preferred embodiment the label is formed from a 66 micron satin white non-topcoated (or pretreated topcoated) PS with either a high tack hot melt rubber adhesive or a high tack modified acrylic adhesive being used to attach the label to the hanger. The non-topcoated polystyrene product provides a printable surface, which has prior corona treatment. Print is then applied to this surface using either letterpress, flexographic or screen processes. Either a water based flexo ink or a UV curing flexo ink are suitable for printing onto synthetic materials. Any other suitable ink type or method of applying print to the label known to a person skilled in the art may also be used. Optionally, once the print has been applied to the label, a UV invisible fluorescent varnish can be applied, enabling a specific radiant colour luminesce when the printed matter is exposed to UV light but will remain invisible in conventional indoor light or day light.

The inks and varnishes used in printing and protecting the label are also polystyrene compatible and contain carefully selected raw materials which will cause as little skin irritation and odour as possible.

Further embodiments of hangers 2 to 16 respectively are shown in FIGS. 2 to 16. Each of the further embodiments are variations of the basic design of the hanger 1 shown in FIG. 1.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific details described above, which are given by way of example only, and that various modifications and alterations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. 

1-12. (canceled)
 13. A recyclable plastic object having a label affixed to said object, wherein said object and said label are made of a material selected from the group consisting of polystyrene and polystyrene compatible material, and said label is affixed to said object with a polystyrene compatible adhesive.
 14. The recyclable plastic object of claim 1, wherein said polystyrene compatible adhesive is selected from the group consisting of high tack hot melt rubber and high tack modified acrylic.
 15. The recyclable plastic object of claim 1 wherein the object is a selected portion of a garment hanger.
 16. The recyclable plastic object of claim 1 wherein the object is a garment hanger.
 17. The recyclable plastic object of claim 4, wherein said garment hanger comprises a hook and a hanger body and said hook is attached in fixed relation to said hanger body.
 18. The recyclable plastic object of claim 4, wherein said garment hanger comprises a hook and a hanger body and said hook is pivotable relative to said hanger body.
 19. The recyclable plastic object of claim 1, wherein said label is imprinted.
 20. The recyclable plastic object of claim 7, in which a fluorescent varnish is applied over said printed matter enabling a specific radiant color luminance when the imprinted label is exposed to ultraviolet light.
 21. The recyclable plastic object of claim 1, wherein said object is a polystyrene film.
 22. The recyclable plastic object of claim 9 wherein said label is selectively supplied as either blank or preprinted depending upon the availability direct thermal printing or preprinting for thermal transfer to said object. 